Queridos Amigos (Dear Friends),

Since my last note on our trip in Mexico, Eric and I have headed south from the Mexico City area all the way to the Yucatan / Quintana Roo Peninsula (a 24 hour overnight bus ride) with our eyes and hearts set on some exciting underwater diving adventures !!

To our dismay, the weather was not on our side for the first few days. Strong winds initially prevented everyone on Cozumel Island from diving. But this did not pin us down for long (just long enough to relax for a day or two with a nice Daquiri in the day or Arroz con Leche -- a hot milk drink with rice and cinnamon -- during the cooler nights).

CHINCHEN ITZA RUINS
So, we decided to make an earlier trip to the famous Chinchen Itza Ruins (Mexico's #1 visited ruins). We took the first bus in the morning (8am) to catch a glimpse of it before the tourist buses from resorts got there (Hurray, success!). The ruins were very impressive. While the building was not taller than the Teotihuacan Ruins near Mexico City, the steps certainly seemed steeper (I had to use the rope to guide myself down). The ruins certainly require a good few hours to see all the carvings and the various sections of the complex (including the absolutely massive old Mayan ball court -- where two teams would compete for their lives to get a ball through a 10 foot high vertically set hoop without using their hands or feet. The stakes were pretty high those days -- Often the losing team's captain would be sacrificed!)

SCUBA DIVING IN COZUMEL
Getting back to Cozumel, we were relieved to see that the winds subsided and the ocean doors were open again!

Cozumel is renown for its beautiful coral reef which attracts a multitude of colourful and interesting fish (it's actually part of the america's great barrier reef). Well, the reputation was definitely deserved!

We swam through all sorts of holes and crevices in the reefs (even some we could barely fit through with all our scuba equipment). We saw all sorts of colourful coral and a plethora of fish (especially the "Splendid Cozumel Toadfish" which looks like a fish that was stepped on and possibly as a result always hides in holes from embarrassement). Plus, against all odds, I somehow let an arrow crab (looks like a huge underwater spider, 3 inches in diameter) crawl all over my naked hands. It actually tickled... step by step, getting over that fear of spiders, but I'm still a long ways off.

Please remind me to show you some of the funny sign language we divers use to identify/communicate (while diving) some of the underwater creatures we find !!

NIGHT DIVE IN COZUMEL
We were even lucky enough to book a night dive and see a 1 1/2 foot wide octopus. It was feeding and it changed colours several times (beige, blue, green, purple) in reaction to our dive light -- Truly the highlight of our dive that night!!

Night dives are awesome and conducted with only small flashlights for illumation. It's a great atmosphere and makes you feel you're really exploring uncharted territory, even if you look over the same place over and over again.

Another highlight was that there were biophosphorescent organisms in the water. This means that when we turned off our lights, waving our hands or bodies around produced thousands of tiny sparkles of light. A truly unique experience we couldn't get enough of!!

CAVERN SCUBA DIVING IN MEXICO'S CENOTES
When I heard about scuba diving in freshwater caverns, with underwater stalactites (the caves were flooded after the stalactites where made), I was definitely intrigued. I had also heard that unlike "cave diving" (basically diving in dark underwater tunnels) which can only be undertaken with significant technical training and speciallized equipment, "cavern diving" can be undertaken with a dive guide and only within the areas reached by light.

What I didn't know was that the visibility was so clear that we could go very far within the cave indeed and actually dive up to 200 feet away from the surface (as long as we remain within the max depth of 130 feet -- basic scuba diving restriction). Believe it or not, the water was so clear that we could easily see through the water as if it was air!! We actually felt like we were astronauts on the moon!

Further, the excitment really began to build when we learnt about the effects of freshwater mixing with saltwater -- at a certain depth in the cave this mixing of water types created a halocline (I know, I know, I'm getting technical, but some people like this stuff -- plus I have to build my credibility somehow... how else but with these big words?) -- anyways, in basic English, the mixing water created a severe blurring effect. So much so that I couldn't see at all more than a foot away. The only instance I can relate it to is looking through the hot air coming out of a hot BBQ, but multiply the blurryness by 10X. It's really something odd to experience (finally my boyfriend gets a sense of what the world looks like to me without my glasses).

Anyways, I fear I've written a bible again... pardon me for the length. I just get a little carried away in the fun and excitement of it all. ;cD

Hope all is well at home in Canada... save the first snowfall for our return !!!

Que les vayan bien ("Hope all is well"),
Natia & Eric